


"Rarest Rose"

by prodigalpoet



Series: Soulmates [17]
Category: Killing Eve (TV 2018)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Alternate Universe - Supernatural Elements, Dark Eve Polastri, Domesticity, F/F, Longing, Soft Eve Polastri, Soft Villanelle | Oksana Astankova, Soulmates, eternal love, soft, villaneve forever
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-31
Updated: 2020-08-31
Packaged: 2021-03-06 17:28:11
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,823
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26212669
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/prodigalpoet/pseuds/prodigalpoet
Summary: Eve and Villanelle married two months after the bridge incident and one year and two rounds of reciprocal IVF treatment later, Billie was born. Four months later, Villanelle is killed by the last member of the Twelve. Eve, still working at Bitter Pill and still in touch with Carolyn, is angry and vows to track the person down so she can kill them herself.
Relationships: Eve Polastri/Villanelle | Oksana Astankova
Series: Soulmates [17]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1793398
Comments: 30
Kudos: 43
Collections: Killing Eve Week 2020





	"Rarest Rose"

**Author's Note:**

> The title of the piece and the piece itself was inspired by Annie Lenox "Love Song For A Vampire," a song used for Francis Ford Coppola's 1992 film Bram Stoker's Dracula. It's such a beautiful, haunting song and Stoker's Dracula remains one of my favorites. Have you watched it? What are your thoughts?
> 
> Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vhG8zC4npsE
> 
> Lyrics:  
> Come into these arms again  
> And lay your body down  
> The rhythm of this trembling heart  
> Is beating like a drum  
> It beats for you, it bleeds for you  
> It know not how it sound  
> For it is the drum of drums  
> It is the song of songs  
> Once I had the rarest rose  
> That ever deigned to bloom  
> Cruel winter chilled the bud  
> And stole my flower too soon  
> Oh loneliness, oh hopelessness  
> To search the ends of time  
> For there is in all the world  
> No greater love than mine  
> Love, oh love, oh love  
> Still falls the rain (still falls the rain)  
> Love, oh love, oh, love  
> Still falls the night  
> Love, oh love, oh love  
> Be mine forever (be mine forever)  
> Love, oh love, oh love  
> Let me be the only one  
> To keep you from the cold  
> Now the floor of heaven's lain  
> With stars of brightest gold  
> They shine for you, they shine for you  
> They burn for all to see  
> Come into these arms again  
> And set this spirit free

"Once I had the rarest rose  
That ever deigned to bloom  
Cruel winter chilled the bud  
And stole my flower too soon  
Oh loneliness, oh hopelessness  
To search the ends of time  
For there is in all the world  
No greater love than mine"

Two weeks after the memorial service…

Eve tosses and turns, her body slicked with sweat. Villanelle’s voice whispering her name jolts her upright in her bed and she looks around frantically, her hands grabbing nothing but empty space in the queen sized bed they once shared. She sighs and rubs her eyes as tears fall from her face. She tries to be quiet since Billie is asleep in the crib next to the bed but it’s hard for her to stifle her sobs. “I wish you were here,” Eve whispers, throwing off the covers and lying backwards. She is about to fall asleep again when Villanelle’s voice slices through the still air: “I am.” Eve almost falls out of the bed and her eyes squint through the darkness. A movement in the corner catches her attention and she gasps when she realizes she is looking straight at Villanelle who is wearing a men’s navy blue silk pajama set dotted with constellations.

“You’re…you’re here.”

“Yes.”

“But you’re dead.”

“Technically.”

“Can I touch you?”

“Eveee. So forward!”

Eve grins, not caring about the fact that she’s probably talking to herself and has probably lost her mind.

“Come here.” 

Villanelle’s figure stands up and strolls towards Billie’s crib. As if she can detect Villanelle’s presence, Billie shifts and opens her eyes. She coos and smiles when Villanelle reaches down and rubs her belly. Villanelle picks her up and kisses her cheek, breathing in her scent. Billie grabs Villanelle’s hair and giggles when Villanelle turns her head to the side and pretends to eat her fingers. 

“I love you, sidekick. Thank you for being so good for Mom Number One.” Villanelle kisses Billie again, this time on the forehead, and places her back down gently.

Eve’s heart is beating faster than it ever has and she feels like she is going to be sick. She watches Villanelle approach her and she thinks of the first time she saw her. The memory makes her heart ache and the words “Wear it down” fall out of her mouth. Villanelle undoes the bun at the top of her head and her hair cascades towards her shoulders like water.

“You look beautiful,” Villanelle whispers, sitting next to Eve on the edge of the bed and slipping her arm around her to pull her close. Eve’s entire body flushes with heat and she doesn’t know how she has made it for the last few months without Villanelle touching her.

“I can feel you now and have felt you every day since you left,” Eve whispers, tears falling from her cheeks and onto the luxurious sheets Villanelle purchased for their home three years ago. “How is this possible?”

“You fell in love with me and I didn’t think that was possible,” Villanelle murmurs, wiping Eve’s cheeks with the pad of her left thumb.

“I didn’t think you could fall in love with me but you did. You made me the happiest I’ve ever been in my life. And then we made the perfect kid who reminds me of you every single day.”

“Maybe love is stronger than death?,” Villanelle says hesitantly.

“You told me you were safe, the day you died.” Eve’s heart feels like it is being crushed beneath an unbearable weight. Maybe she is having a heart attack, she thinks. Maybe this is what dying feels like. Who is going to take care of Billie? 

As if she can read her mind, Villanelle replies: “Omma loves Billie. She would take her in a heartbeat. And Elena and Irina would take care of her, too.”

“You can read my mind?” 

“Lie down.”

Eve obeys Villanelle’s order. Villanelle maintains eye contact as she removes her clothes, setting them in a pile on the corner of the bed. Eve sits up and Villanelle helps her remove the oversized Dracula t-shirt of hers that Eve loves to sleep in. 

“I love to see you wearing my clothes and I also love when you don’t wear any panties,” Villanelle whispers huskily, her eyes running the length of Eve’s legs and stopping to appreciate the area in between. She swallows. The two lie down, facing each other. Eve runs her hand up and down Villanelle’s side and is comforted to find out that she still can elicit a reaction from her, no matter what state of being she is in.

“I’m sorry for messing up the last target…I made such a horrible mistake.”

“What happened?”

“I didn’t pay enough attention to the room. I should have looked above instead of focusing on the area around me.” 

Eve shudders, remembering the details Konstantin relayed to her about Villanelle’s last moments. She entered a room of a dilapidated building in Poland with the intention of locating and killing the last member of the Twelve. Her killer had dropped from the ceiling and stabbed her in the neck with a dagger before leaving her for dead. Konstantin was the one who retrieved her body. 

“I miss you so much.”

“I know you do. I miss you and Billie so much it hurts.”

“Do you feel anything when you touch me?”

“A warm sensation and then a burning one, like I did when I was alive.”

“Have you been able to watch me since…”

“Yes.”

“So you really have been in the house and I haven’t gone crazy?”

“Yes. I didn’t know if I should say something so soon. I didn’t want to scare you. I’ve slept next to you after you’ve fallen asleep and held you. But tonight, when you woke up and reached for me, I could feel the way your pain mirrored my own. I wasn’t next to you because I was double checking the locks on the windows and the doors. I felt you wanting me so I came back upstairs.”

“You keep putting aside outfits for Billie. I thought I must have been doing it and forgetting about it but it’s been you, hasn’t it?”

Villanelle’s eyes are brimming with tears and she nods in response. Eve moves her hand from Villanelle’s cheek and down to her breast, squeezing gently. Villanelle gasps.

“And now I feel aroused.”

“You do?” Eve’s eyebrows are raised and she feels like her insides are on fire. She leans forward and presses her lips against Villanelle’s. She is shocked when she feels soft lips kissing her back and Villanelle’s fingers gently but firmly pulling her head closer to her own.

“Am I really going to fuck a ghost?” Eve laughs into Villanelle’s open mouth, causing Villanelle to laugh back.

“We are strange people, Eve. I don’t think we should question anything anymore. I don’t know what I am but I can feel you and you can feel me so please stop talking so I can fuck my wife.” 

Villanelle flips Eve on her back and straddles her. Eve exhales from the familiar weight above her hipbones.

“Wait.” Eve removes Villanelle’s hungry hands from her hips and looks at her ring finger. Her wedding ring is there. Eve looks down at her own hand and fingers the matching band.

“We’re married.”

“Yes.”

“I don’t want to marry anyone else.”

“Are you sure? I think the barista has a crush on you.” Villanelle tries to laugh but her lips only twitch upwards in an attempt to smile.

“Can you see me when I leave the house?”

“Yes.”

“But…when you go out, can other people see you?”

“They can see me in the disguises I choose to wear. Remember last week, at the cafe? When that woman walked in with her child and told the barista she wanted a non-dairy hot chocolate and then she made it with dairy milk because she has a thing against vegans?”

“Oh my god. You tipped over the original cup, didn’t you? You were the flustered college student who was running late to class and whose backpack accidentally knocked it over.”

“She deserved it. I thought she was spending too much time staring at you instead of focusing on customer orders.” Villanelle shrugs and this time a genuine smile does cross her face.

“You’re really sexy when you’re jealous.” Eve takes Villanelle’s hands and places them back on her thighs and Villanelle’s eyes darken when she slips her hand between Eve’s legs. 

Eve bites down on her left hand so her moans don’t wake up Billie. She’s stopped thinking about whether she has lost her mind or not. Maybe grief is making her hallucinate. She doesn’t care. All that matters is that she can feel something for the first time since Villanelle’s death. She can feel her fingers inside of her and can feel the way Villanelle is reacting to her hips bucking forward against her palm. She can even feel Villanelle’s slickness against her leg. The way Villanelle’s lips clench down gently over her pulse point floods Eve’s mind with startlingly vivid memories. Memories of their wedding night, their honeymoon, Eve’s pregnancy, Billie’s birth, Villanelle crying in the hospital room, the mind-blowing sex after their first post-birth date night.

Villanelle speeds up her movements when she feels Eve start to clench around her fingers. She bites down on Eve’s bottom lip then licks the top of her mouth. Eve’s throaty mention of her name in her ear makes her come over Eve’s leg. Eve arches her back against the mattress and Villanelle feels her coming undone against her hand. She slows down the pumping motion and kisses Eve slowly, watching her half-lidded eyes open to return her gaze. 

“Was that good?”

Eve nods, her head falling back against the pillow. Villanelle removes her fingers and licks them. Eve’s breath hitches and her body still throbs with desire despite the otherworldly orgasm she just experienced. 

“I want you.”

“You have me.” Villanelle rolls onto her back and tries to slow down her breaths. Her skin is covered with her and Eve’s sweat and for the first time in what seems like forever, she does not feel lost or confused. She hasn’t scared away Eve. She’s been able to hold Billie. She’s been able to have sex with Eve. She doesn’t care if she’s in heaven or in purgatory, but she knows she’s definitely not in hell. This moment is what she’s been waiting for.

“Hey,” Eve whispers, placing her hand above Villanelle’s belly button, “what are you thinking about?”

“You.” Villanelle brings Eve’s hand to her lips and kisses it.

Eve blushes beneath Villanelle’s intense stare. Her face contains a mixture of emotions and Eve has studied her wife’s face enough to know which ones they are. Affection, gratitude, appreciation, love.

“Look, I don’t know what’s going on, but can you please just let me see you from now on? I’m not afraid. And come out with me. I’ll tell everyone you’re my new work colleague.”

“I will. Until now, I was afraid you would scream if you saw me. I didn’t want you to mess up your life even more. I never left you and Billie, you know.” Villanelle says solemnly.

“You were here when Konstantin came to tell me the news.”

“Yes.”

“I thought I felt your lips against my neck when I went to bed that night. Was that real?”

“Yes.”

Billie’s cry interrupts the conversation and Eve automatically moves to grab her. 

“No, let me take care of it. Go to sleep.”

“You’ll be here when I wake up?”

“Yes.”

Eve swallows, her eyes feeling the sting of tears yet to fall. She watches Villanelle slip out of bed and retrieve her silk tiger-covered bathrobe from a hook behind the bedroom door. She puts it on and picks up Billie from her crib. She sniffs and crinkles her nose. “How does such a little person make such a big stink?” she asks, kissing the top of Billie’s head. Eve laughs and strains her ears to hear Villanelle talking to Billie in the bathroom as she runs the bath. Two minutes later, she is asleep, finally able to sleep for the first time since hearing the news.

The next day…

Eve wakes up, her head pounding from a headache. She licks her lips and swallows, feeling dehydrated. When she moves, her muscles feel sore, making her think she didn’t dream the events of the night before up. The noises from the kitchen affirm this realization and she runs downstairs without even grabbing any clothes to make sure Villanelle and Billie are there.

“WOW. Is this your way of telling me you want morning sex?” Villanelle is standing at the stove in her bathrobe and flipping pancakes. On her left is Billie is in her high chair playing with a wooden car and sucking on her fingers. 

“You’re here.”

“I told you I would be.” Villanelle turns so she can kiss Eve on the lips and Eve instantly feels nervous. She places a hand over Villanelle’s mouth and grins at Villanelle’s wide eyes and furrowed brows.

“Not yet. I’m going to brush my teeth and shower.”

Villanelle smiles and pulls Eve towards her, dropping her head down so she can catch Eve’s lips between her own. The sight of Eve’s unruly hair and the love bites on her neck makes her want to lift her onto the counter and do things to her instead of letting her leave to take a shower. 

“Mmm, you taste like sex,” Villanelle groans, her nostrils filling with the scent of sweat and residual passion.

“Baby, if you keep kissing me, that’s exactly what we’ll be doing and the pancakes will burn and Billie will be hungry for her breakfast.”

“Go on then, smelly.” Villanelle squeezes Eve’s ass and winks at her before adjusting Billie’s pink hair bow and speaking to her about pancakes in Russian.

Eve flies upstairs and runs into her bathroom. Her body feels charged with electricity and she can feel her heartbeat in her ears. She brushes her teeth and laughs when she sees the bruises on her skin from Villanelle’s teeth. She doesn’t know what she will tell Omma or her friends but doesn’t care to take the time to dwell. Right now, she wants to shower and scrub herself down and wash her hair with Villanelle’s expensive bath products that she didn’t have the heart to throw away so she can join her and Billie for breakfast.

Thirty minutes later, Eve walks into the kitchen wearing an olive colored jumpsuit. Her damp hair is pulled up in a high bun and she is also wearing makeup in addition to the perfume Villanelle gave to her. Villanelle almost chokes on her food and doesn’t say anything when Eve sits next to her at the marble kitchen countertop in front of a plate stacked with pancakes and a cup of steaming coffee. Billie is sitting on Villanelle’s other side in her high chair, waiting for Villanelle to feed her another piece of pancake. “You look hot.” Villanelle emphasizes the “t” and Eve moves her stool closer, nudging her head against her neck. 

“Only for you.”

“You’re not going to let me make it through breakfast, are you?” Villanelle looks down between her legs and clenches them together. 

“If you make it through breakfast and you can feed Billie an entire pancake, you can look forward to midday sex when we put her down for her nap.”

Villanelle widens her eyes and gapes before turning back towards Billie. Eve keeps one hand on Villanelle’s exposed thigh and shovels syrup covered pancake into her mouth. She closes her eyes and revels in how good the pancakes taste, thanking God silently for Villanelle’s amazingly unchanged cooking skills. 

“She’s missed you, baby,” Eve says out loud, leaning on the counter to watch Billie happily responding to Villanelle making purring sounds and moving her pancake-filled fingers towards her mouth like her hand is an airplane. 

“I’ve missed her too. She’s been able to see me this whole time, though, so I don’t think she is as freaked out as you were when I let you see me.”

“So that’s why Billie was so comfortable when you picked her up yesterday?”

“Yes.”

“Have you been picking her up during her nap time?” Eve thinks back to all the moments she smelled Villanelle’s perfume against Billie’s skin after lifting her up from her crib following her naps.

“I couldn’t help myself.” Villanelle sends Eve a sheepish smile and then laughs at Billie, peppering her cheeks with kisses. “Come here, cutie,” Villanelle whispers breathlessly. She lifts Billie out of her chair and turns her body horizontally so that her belly is sandwiched between her hands. “Are you going to fly to Omma and kiss her good morning before we go into the living room?” Villanelle walks Billie over to Eve who reaches for her hair. Eve kisses her hands and returns the kiss Villanelle gives to her. After Eve cleans up the breakfast dishes and refills her cup of coffee, she sits next to Villanelle on the living room couch and slips her arm around her back. She can feel the muscles moving beneath her robe and tries not to think about the dampness between her thighs. Nevertheless, she leans backs and appreciates the view of her wife’s long legs resting on top of the coffee table. Billie is lying on her back nestled between Villanelle’s legs and is laughing at her continuously changing facial expressions. Eve rests her head against Villanelle’s shoulder and sighs contentedly, her eyes drooping as exhaustion from last night’s activities starts to affect her.

“Hey, baby. Why don’t you lie down and nap? Billie and I won’t go anywhere until she starts to get cranky before her nap time and that’s not for another hour or so.”

“Okay.” Eve lies down so that the top of her head brushes against Villanelle’s thigh. Villanelle grabs a blanket and throws it over Eve and smiles as her breathing slows down and she falls asleep.

“Have you been tiring Mom out, baby?” Villanelle stands up and holds Billie against her and walks over to the floor to ceiling windows overlooking a lush and private garden. After changing Billie’s diaper and letting her play with a soft book about cities of the world, Villanelle puts her down for a nap in her room and takes the baby monitor back downstairs. When she walks into the living room, Eve shifts and opens her eyes. She eyes Villanelle in the doorway and smiles shyly. 

“What are you looking at?” 

“My sleepy, sexy wife. Come with me to our room.” Eve accepts Villanelle’s hand and they go upstairs and crawl into bed. 

“You tired me out last night, tiger.” Eve smiles at Villanelle who is still wearing her bathrobe, disheveled hair framing her face and making her appear younger.

“I’ve missed hearing you tell me that.” Villanelle whispers, wrapping her arms around Eve and pulling her body so close to her own that Eve is practically on top of her. “Let’s not have sex right now. I just want to hold you.”

“I’ve missed being held by you. Watching you with Billie. Eating your food. Whatever is happening here, I don’t want it to end. I don’t want to wake up one day and have you be gone forever. I lost you once and I don’t think I’ll survive if I lose you again.”

“You will survive. You’re the strongest person I’ve ever known.” Villanelle chokes up, her hands clenching around Eve’s body more tightly. 

“Stay with me.” Eve’s voice trembles and she kisses the area between Villanelle’s breasts. 

“I will.”

Eve rolls onto her side and runs her hands beneath Villanelle’s robe so she can slide it past her shoulders and her neck. Her eyes scan her neck for visible damage but Villanelle’s skin is smooth and unchanged. She crinkles her nose at how normal everything seems and tries to evict the blooming anxiety gnawing at her insides.

“I know you’re worried about everything but let’s enjoy each moment as it happens, okay?,” Villanelle says softly, her hands brushing over Eve’s face. “I’m really sorry for not coming home.”

“I know you are. But you’re here now, somehow. I don’t want you to feel guilty.”

“I’m really happy I can feel you and Billie.”

“Me too. I haven’t even been able to touch myself since you’ve died.”

“I know,” Villanelle replies, the ghost of a grin drifting across her face. “I’ve been here the whole time, remember?”

“Yes. Have you…are you able to see anything else, where you are? I mean, have you met anyone else or been able to travel?”

“I haven’t met anyone else. I’ve just been here, with you and Billie. I tried to visit my last location on earth, you know, where I was attacked, but I couldn’t.”

“Do you know who attacked you?”

“No.”

“Can you help me track them down?”

“Yes. But I need you to be safe, okay? You don’t know who you are dealing with. I also don’t want your life to be consumed with this. You need to move on.”

“Are you serious?” Eve’s voice rises and she can feel the anger rising up like vomit in her throat at Villanelle’s request. “I can’t move on. You know this. If you wanted me to move on so badly, why are you here?"

"Because I can't move on."

"Doesn't it hurt you??? Can't you see that I'm hurting, too?"

"I don't care if it hurts me."

"That's why you ended up getting killed."

Villanelle gasps and Eve feels like the air is sucked out of the entire room. She notices Villanelle's eyes going black and her heart twitches, breaking even more.

"DON'T MAKE ME FEEL GUILTY FOR SAYING THAT! FUCK YOU, FUCK YOU, FUCK YOU!," Eve screams, her rage boiling over now. 

She pounds her fists against Villanelle's chest and cries, her chest heaving up and down uncontrollably.

"Eve..."

"What?"

"It's okay. Get it out."

Villanelle holds onto Eve's hands and draws her towards her chest, kissing her on the top of her head as Eve's body shakes with pent-up grief.

"I hate you. I love you. You're my fucking soulmate," Eve mumbles, pulling back and looking into Villanelle's eyes.

"I love you, too. Soulmate."

Villanelle kisses Eve then and the entire world drops away and it's only them and their child spinning around in the universe in the house they built together.

"Let me be the only one  
To keep you from the cold  
Now the floor of heaven's lain  
With stars of brightest gold  
They shine for you, they shine for you  
They burn for all to see  
Come into these arms again  
And set this spirit free"


End file.
